Glimpses of a Personal History
Pages: 60
Year of Publication: 2004
Price: HB Rs 150, FB Rs 100
ISBN:
HB 81-8157-294-7 (8181572947)
FB 81-8157-295-5 (8181572955)
About the Author:
Dibyajyoti Sarma was born in Guwahati on 18 July 1976. After graduating in English Literature he went to Pune, where he lives now, for post graduate studies. Though he writes in English, his poetry continues to be influenced by Asomiya verse.
Teaser:
Prologue
Things must’ve a beginning…
There’s a beginning, all right…
And a love story
That went horribly wrong.
I’m no Dante who could write:
“Io non mori, e non rimasi vivo.”
(I did not die, yet nothing of life remained.)
Once, years ago,
I lived there. A beautiful country,
Far-flung from the stars! Oh…
My memory’s mute.
One day, I saw the face of God,
Felt his pat…
He said, “well done.”
No. No. Don’t ask me further.
In that truce with memory
I lost everything. The day,
I fell from the sky.
A dry leaf from the tree of knowledge!
It was I.
Earth wasn’t born yet. And I waited.
In the eternity
Somewhere…
Savouring that remoteness
The naked void…
Where there was no colour for my aerial body.
And I passed many nights.
Reaching a tunnel at the end of another.
A ceaseless journey through
Perpetuity
Incessant.
Waiting for a birth.
It was after many years
Somehow, I don’t remember…
…I opened the door to the earth.
Collecting the drops from the cloud
I invented a river.
Earth’s first achievement!
That flowed through my cadaver, where my
Veins soaked its earth-coloured stench.
And I walked through its soggy banks…
Where I slept for the first time,
Smearing soil on my aerial body.
I.
The first man on earth!
Contents:
Prologue / 9
A Certain Plant Refused to Grow / 11
Birth / 12
Tree / 14
History / 15
God / 20
Prayers for a Lesbian God / 21
The Self / 22
The Self, Again / 24
Ships and Trains… Voyages / 25
Invitation / 27
Train / 28
Puppet / 29
Water / 30
Departing / 31
Ship / 32
Searching for Myself in Unknown Places / 35
Beloved, Your Name / 37
I, Tragedy / 38
The Lover / 40
Songs for Him Who Does Not Exist / 41
Tide / 43
Old/New / 44
Fighting / 45
Smooch / 46
Dracula / 47
Trying to Fall / 49
Unfinished Sketches / 51
Mira: An Apology for Feminism / 53
Monologue of a Dying Gladiator / 54
Bhaskar / 56
Mr. Mahapatra / 58
Srinivas Iyengar / 60